Rock Art and Trade Networks: From Scandinavia to the Italian Alps

Rock art serves as evidence of durable social relations and trade networks between Scandinavia and the Italian Alps from the second half of the third millennium BCE to the first millennium BCE. The study identifies strong similarities in weapon depictions, copper importation (c. 1500–1100 BCE), and burial traditions (c. 1000–700 BCE) as indicators of two-way cultural transmission, likely facilitated by seasonal trade meetings. Rock art practices, such as those found at Mjeltehaugen in Norway and Val Camonica, Italy, played a role in maintaining these connections through the exchange of symbolic concepts and iconography.

Melheim, L., & Sand-Eriksen, A. (2020). Rock Art and Trade Networks: From Scandinavia to the Italian Alps. Open Archaeology, 6(1), 86–106. https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2020-0101